WEEKEND NIGHTS

Visitor Tabs

Description

Part of the Yorkshire Media Consortium project, this film explores pub life and punters from two very different Yorkshire pubs, one small and local, the other part of a town centre chain.

The film begins with Les and Anita outside the Masons Arms in Ackworth near Wakefield. Inside the pub a few are watching a rugby match on TV. Outside a group stand having a drink and talking about their loyalty to the pub, commenting on its special atmosphere and the reaction its patrons have to a stranger coming into the pub. Behind the bar, the landlord talks about the importance of having a relaxed atmosphere. A couple speak of their plans, and an older customer tells of how cattle used to go by to the market.

Michelle and Phil are outside the Forehorse and Firkin, Wakefield. Then a couple of young men arrive who are continuing in the next leg of their pub crawl. Inside the pub, the landlord explains the hard work that goes into his job, and a costumer is playing on a racing car game in the background. Other customers are interviewed. One of them explains that in Mapplethorpe, they don’t answer to ‘beer’ but only to ‘bitter.’ On the TV screen, Holland are playing S. Korea. Outside the doorman explains which are the busy times.

Back inside the Masons Arms there is some singing, and an older customer tells how dominoes and darts have been replaced by jukeboxes. One customer states that although it seems like a quiet village, underneath there is a ‘mafia like’ underworld. Other customers relate that the landlord has made the pub into a safe friendly place to come and have a drink.

On a summer’s evening, Young drinkers are thronging the street outside the Forehorse and Firkin in Wakefield. The bouncer explains what his job entails. Revellers say what they like about being out in the pubs at night. Everyone bursts into singing the English football song ‘Football’s coming home’.

Back again in the Masons Arms it is quiet. A group discuss the reports of fighting involving English supporters at the World Cup. One man, sitting next to his wife, complains about women being in the pub and how it was better when it was all men on a Sunday before the opening hours were changed.

Inside the Forehorse and Firkin everyone is dancing and singing along to the music including the alternative World Cup song Vindaloo by Fat Les. Switching back to the Masons Arms, an older customer states that people in the pub being happy isn’t the same as having joy in the heart. Another older customer explains that she preferred the ‘old days’ when people could leave their doors unlocked, and a man tells of his joy at winning a local football trophy. The landlady of the Masons Arms relates that they had made a success of a failing pub, but that now they are being asked to pay increased rent. This is followed by the footballer getting increasingly emotional and the bouncer explaining that there hasn’t been any trouble. The film ends with more singing by revellers at the Forehorse and Firkin, and joking at the Mason Arms.